joepistol
Well-Known Fanatic
I recenty added a new rifle to my collection..a Remingtom Mod. 700 CDL SF . I'd never heard of a CDL, or a SF designation for a Remington 700 rifle.
( A CDL is a nicer version of the BDL, the S = stainless steel & the F = fluted barrel) so, my new rifle is an all stainless steel, fluted barrel, fancy wood-stocked rifle, this one is chambered in Remington 7mm Magnum
Why'd I add it to my collection ? I inherited 100+ 1X fired R-P brand brass cases, some full boxes of Hornady 7mm bullets, and a set of new RCBS dies, for this caliber. My thinking was, if I have bullets, brass, & dies (+ usable powder) I should load those cases..and I'll need a rifle to shoot them, after they're loaded. Makes sense to me.
So, how does this relate to a "potential source for making a loading error ? " I had resized, measured, trimmed, chamfered the case mouths, & primed the cases.. they're ready to have powder added. Using the 162 gr Hornady bullets, I consulted my Hornady manual for an appropriate powder, and a starting powder charge. I have a few cans of IMR 4831, so I'll use a starting charge of that. I have my Hornady manual & a box of bullets on the pool table, behind my loading bench. Manual lists 60.4 gr as a starting charge for the 162 gr. bullet. I use a digital scale, and measure each thrown charge, allowing + or - .1 gr of my desired weight..otherwise the charge is dumped back in the measure. I weigh out powder for 10 rds. & get prepared to adjust bullet seating depth.
My older son, Charles was watching me & he asked , ..." Weatherby 7mm Magnum ? ' I said , .."what? " then looked @ loading manual.
I noticed the load data I had used for my charge weight was for the Weatherby 7mm Magnum , instead of the Remington 7mm magnum.
I'm certain I had the manual on the Remington 7mm magnum page, the Weatherby data was a few pages past the page I had visited.
Since I hadn't propped the load data book open on the page I needed, the book had flipped a few pages past my desired page, & happened to land on the page for the Weatherby 7mm Magnum, where the same bullet had load data. I used the starting charge listed on that page. What was the difference ?
The Weatherby 7mm Magnum has a starting charge of 60.4gr for the 162 gr bullet. The starting charge for a Remington 7mm magnum using the same 162 gr bullet is 53.1gr. and goes up to a max charge of 60.1 gr ( ! ) I'd added a powder charge of 60.4gr for a "starting charge" which was .3gr over a maximum charge for the Remington 7mm magnum.
A major oops !..and a good thing my son had noticed.. I might not have caught it. Or more likely, I'd have seated the bullets, then discovered the error,
and had to pull the bullets, and re charge the cases.
Having loaded ammo for 45+ yrs. (and having made what I thought could be all the mistakes possible while loading ammo) I am surprised how easy it still is to make yet another "new" mistake in my loading. reinforces the need to be constantly aware of potential mistakes. I have loaded ammo with an improper charge before, and caught the mistake when labeling a box the ammo was stored in.. got to pull bullets to correct the error, that time. Only had to dump the powder , adjust the charge down to 53.1gr., & recharge the cases, this time.
( A CDL is a nicer version of the BDL, the S = stainless steel & the F = fluted barrel) so, my new rifle is an all stainless steel, fluted barrel, fancy wood-stocked rifle, this one is chambered in Remington 7mm Magnum
Why'd I add it to my collection ? I inherited 100+ 1X fired R-P brand brass cases, some full boxes of Hornady 7mm bullets, and a set of new RCBS dies, for this caliber. My thinking was, if I have bullets, brass, & dies (+ usable powder) I should load those cases..and I'll need a rifle to shoot them, after they're loaded. Makes sense to me.
So, how does this relate to a "potential source for making a loading error ? " I had resized, measured, trimmed, chamfered the case mouths, & primed the cases.. they're ready to have powder added. Using the 162 gr Hornady bullets, I consulted my Hornady manual for an appropriate powder, and a starting powder charge. I have a few cans of IMR 4831, so I'll use a starting charge of that. I have my Hornady manual & a box of bullets on the pool table, behind my loading bench. Manual lists 60.4 gr as a starting charge for the 162 gr. bullet. I use a digital scale, and measure each thrown charge, allowing + or - .1 gr of my desired weight..otherwise the charge is dumped back in the measure. I weigh out powder for 10 rds. & get prepared to adjust bullet seating depth.
My older son, Charles was watching me & he asked , ..." Weatherby 7mm Magnum ? ' I said , .."what? " then looked @ loading manual.
I noticed the load data I had used for my charge weight was for the Weatherby 7mm Magnum , instead of the Remington 7mm magnum.
I'm certain I had the manual on the Remington 7mm magnum page, the Weatherby data was a few pages past the page I had visited.
Since I hadn't propped the load data book open on the page I needed, the book had flipped a few pages past my desired page, & happened to land on the page for the Weatherby 7mm Magnum, where the same bullet had load data. I used the starting charge listed on that page. What was the difference ?
The Weatherby 7mm Magnum has a starting charge of 60.4gr for the 162 gr bullet. The starting charge for a Remington 7mm magnum using the same 162 gr bullet is 53.1gr. and goes up to a max charge of 60.1 gr ( ! ) I'd added a powder charge of 60.4gr for a "starting charge" which was .3gr over a maximum charge for the Remington 7mm magnum.
A major oops !..and a good thing my son had noticed.. I might not have caught it. Or more likely, I'd have seated the bullets, then discovered the error,
and had to pull the bullets, and re charge the cases.
Having loaded ammo for 45+ yrs. (and having made what I thought could be all the mistakes possible while loading ammo) I am surprised how easy it still is to make yet another "new" mistake in my loading. reinforces the need to be constantly aware of potential mistakes. I have loaded ammo with an improper charge before, and caught the mistake when labeling a box the ammo was stored in.. got to pull bullets to correct the error, that time. Only had to dump the powder , adjust the charge down to 53.1gr., & recharge the cases, this time.
